Women's Ice Hockey

Cornell Women's Ice Hockey Clinches Ivy League Title with 7-1 Victory Over Yale

Feb 12, 2011

Courtesy of Cornell Athletic Communications

ITHACA, N.Y. – A four-goal second period
was all the Big Red women's ice hockey team needed to blow away
Yale and clinch its second straight Ivy League title this
afternoon, as Cornell defeated the Bulldogs, 7-1, at Lynah Rink.
The win improves the Big Red to 25-1-1 overall (19-0-1 ECAC) and
gives Cornell back-to-back Ivy League titles for the first time
since the 1980-81 season.

Yale took an early 1-0 lead after scoring in the opening minutes
of the first period, but the Big Red answered with seven goals from
seven separate skaters to take the victory.

“It [Yale's goal] was early in the game so it didn't deter
us. If anything it motivated us,” said captain Amber
Overguard. “We just played our game and kept the
intensity up and good things happened. It was a great way to end
the season at home. From day one it was our goal to win an ECAC
championship and an Ivy League championship.”

Brianne Jenner, Rebecca Johnston
and Chelsea Karpenko all finished with a
three-point night as the trio each registered one goal and one
assist apiece. Catherine White (one goal, one
assist) and Hayley Hughes (two assists) were
Cornell's only other multi-point scorers. The Big Red spread the
wealth on offense as Olivia Cook, Jessica
Campbell and Laura Fortino all registered
a single goal.

Yale (7-16-3, 6-11-2) was kept in the game by Ladiges
Genny, who finished the game with 45 saves, while Lauren
Slebodnick made 16 saves to pick up the victory.

Cornell went 2-for-4 with the extra skater, while the Bulldogs
finished the game scoreless on its one power-play chance.

Yale got on the got on the board at 2:52 in the first period when
Aleca Hughes and Bray Ketchum
teamed up for a give-and-go that finished with Hughes beating
Slebodnick top shelf.

If took more than 15 minutes for Cornell to get the equalizer as
White scored an power play goal to knot the game at 1-1.

Fortino scored what would prove to be the game-winner just over
four minutes into the second period, but it was an onslaught of
three Big Red goals in a span of 1:41 that put the game out of
reach. Goals during the stretch were scored by Cook, Jenner and
Campbell.

“I thought we were getting a little anxious after being
scored on first, so I just told the team to stick to the game
plan,” said head coach Doug Derraugh. “In a big
game like this, that was tight early on, it was great to have a
couple of lines finish their chances.

Cornell closes out the regular season next weekend with a road
trip to Dartmouth and Harvard. Cornell will take on Dartmouth on
Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., before battling Harvard the following
afternoon in a 4 p.m. contest. The Big Red will then be home the
following weekend for the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal round against an
opponent to be determined.